THREE RIVERS AREA — College campuses aren’t just for kids anymore. At Ozarka College, the average age of students for this fall is 30, with an age range from 16 to 80, said Gin Brown, Ozarka Mountain View campus director.
An increasing number of nontraditional students are enrolling to continue or begin their college educations. David Mitchell of Fox was one of them.
Not only was he a nontraditional student, he was just given Ozarka’s Faculty of the Year award, which is decided by a vote from students and faculty.
“When I got out of high school, I went to work in the family car business,” said Mitchell, 37. “When I was about 24, I started to college at Ozarka. It took me a long time because I took a class here and a class there.”
He got his associate degree in 2004 and received a scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where he got his bachelor’s degree and then graduated with his master’s in D e cemb er 2009.
While working on his degrees, Mitchell taught labs in the biology department at UCA. He also taught as an adjunct instructor at the Mountain View campus of Ozarka for three summers, and he went to work as a full-time general biology instructor in 2008.
“I never really thought that I wanted to be a teacher,” Mitchell said.
In addition to his students and colleagues voting for Mitchell to be Faculty of the Year at Ozarka, they are outspoken in their praise of him.
Kellie Traylor said that after taking his classes, she noticed everything outside that moves.
“Because of his enthusiasm, [the students] have enthusiasm for biology,” Brown said. “He had so many students take [his zoology class] just because he was teaching it.”
Mitchell said the principles of zoology class had not been offered for a while at Ozarka, and he put it together from the ground up.
Brown said Ozarka has always had a high number of nontraditional students, and that seems to be the case in other colleges, too.
Greg Stewart, 34, of Batesville lost his job and decided to start his college career at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.
“When I lost my job, I decided that I didn’t want to go back into truck driving,” Stewart said.
He said the thought of going to college was a little intimidating. After graduation, he plans to apply for a jobwith the State Police.
“I didn’t think I could do it,” he said. “I’d been out of school for so long, but it’s kind of fun now.” It is so much fun that he is cramming 21 hours into his fall semester.
Mitchell and many like him know the value of having easy access to higher-education opportunities.
“If Ozarka hadn’t had a campus close to home, I never would have gone back to college,” Mitchell said.
“I never would have gotten my graduate degree.” Mitchell said he recommends going back to school, and he believes it is a good example to set for his 5-year-old daughter.
“It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of sacrifice, but in the long run, it pays off,” he said, “not just financially, but being happy in your life.” - jbrosius@ arkansasonline.com
Three Rivers, Pages 54 on 07/22/2010